GNO ALTERNATIVE STAGE PROGRAMME 2026 27

 Alternative Stage || Alternative Era

The Greek National Opera Alternative Stage presents “Alternative Era,” the programme for the 2026/26 season, introducing a new programming cycle structured around themed festivals and new artistic axes. The new season coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Alternative Stage at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), marking a creative assessment of its work to date and a daring transition into a new phase of artistic development. At the core of this season’s programme lies sound, serving as a meeting ground for music, theatre, dance, the visual arts, and technology. Through new music theatre productions, an extensive concert programme, contemporary dance and electronic music events, as well as learning and participation projects, the Alternative Stage celebrates its ten-year-long journey by further expanding its artistic identity as a space for research, creativity, and dialogue with audiences. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) [www.SNF.org] is the Founding Donor of the GNO Alternative Stage and its enduring supporter.

PPC supports the Alternative Stage as a Major Sponsor for the 2026/27  season. With a steadfast commitment to enhancing cultural creation, it contributes to the realisation of pioneering productions and initiatives that promote contemporary artistic expression. PPC’s collaboration with the Alternative Stage and the Greek National Opera is part of its broader strategy to support and promote culture as an agent of sustainable development and social cohesion.

The Artistic Director of the GNO, Giorgos Koumendakis, notes: “The 2026/27 season marks the beginning of a new era for the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage. This “Alternative Era” suggests a new way of experiencing space, music, and encounters with art. For the first time, our programming revolves around a series of thematic strands, each with its own identity, creators, and audience. All of them, however, share sound as a common starting point: from music theatre, which remains the Alternative Stage’s cornerstone, to dance, visual arts, electronic creation, and Early and Byzantine music, sound becomes the thread that connects diverse forms of expression and experience. At the same time, the Alternative Space as a venue continually transforms: from a theatrical and concert stage to a live installation, a workshop space, a participation hub, and an open arena for music and dance. The “Alternative Era” extends an open invitation: to listen differently, to meet one another differently, and to imagine new connections among sound, the human voice, technology, and stage creation in the 21st century.

The programme you will read over the next few pages has been shaped by our creative collaboration with Ioannis Angelakis, an emerging composer of acoustic and electronic music with experience in creating original stage works and performances. On the occasion of the announcement of the new season’s programme, I have the pleasure of publicly welcoming him and wishing him every success in his new role as the Head of Programming of the Alternative Stage.”

Music Theatre — 6 new productions

Six new music-theatre productions, based on new commissions, explore the connections among sound, voice, body, and technology. Through diverse aesthetic directions and hybrid stage forms, the programme highlights contemporary Greek creation and the emerging potential of music theatre.

• The new production by the GNO Ballet, To Have Been So Close So Many Times, engages contemporary dance, music theatre, Giorgos Koumendakis’ music, and Constantine P. Cavafy’s poetry into a creative dialogue, through choreographies by Patricia Apergi, Ilias Hatzigeorgiou, and Eva Georgitsopoulou.

• The àktapha ensemble, in collaboration with director Themelis Glynatsis, presents a new music theatre work titled The Offering, commissioned by the GNO Alternative Stage, and inspired by Euripides’

• The award-winning company Nova Melancholia presents its new performance Talking About It Is Like Betraying It, a GNO Alternative Stage commission, inspired by the aesthetic of Camp and Susan Sontag’s essay “Notes on Camp.”

• The peculiar oratorio Paradise Lost – Morfé Δemoníon by Nikos Galenianos, a GNO Alternative Stage commission, draws inspiration from John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Euripides’ Bacchae, and features the female choral ensemble CHÓRES and metal singer Petros Miliadis (aka Invoker).

• The new music theatre production Descent by Konstantinos Baras and Fanis Sakellariou, a GNO Alternative Stage commission, is a multimedia work for an opera singer, trombone, double bass, and electronics, inspired by Dante’s Inferno, and exploring the concepts of power, resistance, and freedom.

• The music theatre performance Antichrist by Ioannis Angelakis, a GNO Alternative Stage commission, explores historical figures of evil and otherness through music, choreography, and an electronic environment, with sound serving as a dramaturgical core.

Contemporary Music Days — 18 concerts | October – November 2026

A multidimensional cycle of eighteen concerts dedicated to contemporary musical production, featuring new commissions, premieres, and tributes to emblematic figures of the 20th and 21st centuries. The programme titled Multiple Presents includes tributes to György Kurtág, György Ligeti, and Georges Aperghis, concerts by the Ergon Ensemble under the baton of Nicolas Vassiliou, by the ERT Choir in a debut collaboration with the Greek Composers’ Union, and by TETTTIX, as well as an anniversary concert by the ARTéfacts ensemble. It will also feature the international composition competition Re:Trace, the screening of the milestone film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with music by Nikos Karagiannis, and a piano recital by Stephanos Thomopoulos.

Early Music Days — 9 concerts | November 2026

Nine concerts explore the repertoire from the Middle Ages onwards through historically informed performances and contemporary readings. The festival sheds light on the enduring vibrancy of Early music and its relationship to the present. The programme unfolds in two thematic cycles. The First Cycle, The Age of Revolutions, curated by Dimos Goundaroulis, includes a tribute to Beethoven, featuring two prominent exponents of Early Music worldwide: the French violoncellist and gambist Christophe Coin and the Japanese violinist Shunske Sato. The Second Cycle, Active Pasts, curated by Markellos Chryssicos, will feature the performance Timoleon and Julia: A Baroque Story of Cross-Dressing, directed by Argyro Chioti and co-produced by the National Theatre of Greece.

Byzantine Music Days — 4 concerts | October 2026

Four concerts, curated by Zacharias Karounis, bring the tradition of Byzantine music and its contemporary manifestations to the fore. Historical choruses, distinguished first cantors, and new voices present the wealth of a musical heritage that remains creatively present.

Electronic Music Days — February 2027

Ten days dedicated to contemporary forms of electronic creation in the Alternative Stage’s space, which transforms into an open venue for concerts, audiovisual performances, and dance.

Virtual Arts Days — March 2027

A fortnight dedicated to contemporary visual practices. The Alternative Stage becomes a live installation featuring performances and cross-disciplinary works that engage with the performing arts. Gardens of Subversion will return as a new exploration of the work of the same name by visual artist and set designer Petros Touloudis, inspired by an 18th-century map of the Rococo gardens at Solitude Palace (Schloss Solitude) in Stuttgart, Germany.

Community and Creation Days | May – June 2027

A series of events by the GNO Learning & Participation Department that gives center stage to participation, co-creation, and connection with diverse communities. Music theatre projects, dance performances, concerts, workshops, and educational programmes – all set in motion new forms of artistic encounters. The programme will feature Benjamin Britten’s children’s opera The Little Sweep, in Giorgos Tsaknias’ translation, conducted by Kyriaki Kountouri and performed by the Oros Ensemble; Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals, orchestrated by Apostolis Koutsogiannis; and Giorgos Kassavetis’ The Cat, based on a folk tale from Eastern Thrace.

Contemporary Dance Days — June 2027

A month dedicated to contemporary dance, featuring new productions and a special focus on showcasing young and emerging choreographers. The programme, curated by Nancy Nerantzi, reflects current trends in dance creation and strengthens the connection with the younger generation of artists.

Revivals — 2 productions | December 2026 – January 2027

Two successful productions from previous years are returning in new versions, offering audiences the chance to reconnect with works that stood out for their artistic quality and impact.   

• The hilarious opera Viva la mamma!, directed by Sofia Paschou, a subversive take on Gaetano Donizetti’s comic work Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali, will be revived at the Alternative Stage, satirizing the vanity and conflicts behind the scenes of a music theatre company.

• The shadow puppet opera Karagiozis as Rigoletto, written by Dimitris Dimopoulos and Alexandros Melissinos, will return even more vibrant, offering knowledge and abundant laughter… in an alternative way!

Philippi Festival — 3 days | September 2026

As part of its collaboration with the Philippi Festival, the Alternative Stage will host selected productions and artistic events over three days. The programme will feature Jean-Baptiste Lully’s opera Phaëton, a co-production between the GNO Alternative Stage and the Municipal & Regional Theatre of Kavala, conceived and curated by the Rafi Music Theatre Company, adapted and orchestrated by Vasiliki Legaki, and directed by Sofia Antoniou.

Music Theatre Workshop Cycle | September 2026 – July 2027

A new annual programme for the development and support of music theater production that connects emerging composers, directors, set and costume designers, and lighting designers. Through workshops and presentations of new stage works, the Alternative Stage serves as a hub of creative ferment, where new works and collaborations are born.

Head of Artistic Programming for the GNO Alternative Stage: Ioannis Angelakis

Tickets for the GNO Alternative Stage’s productions for the first four months of the 2026/2027 season (September – December 2026) will go on sale on 31 July 2026 and will be available at the GNO Box Office and on ticketservices.gr.

The Greek National Opera is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture

Major Sponsor of the GNO: PPC

Alternative Stage Founding Donor: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)